Rethinking the poetics of urban informalities in fiction: Reconstructing the city space in times of crisis

Abstract

This paper considers ways of reading and theorising urbanity and the urbanites’ coping strategies for survival. The prime motivation is to demonstrate their apt capacity to transform the urban space and utilise it to better their lives. Using resilience theory and focusing on the profundity of agency, the paper takes literature, particularly the short story set in urban Zimbabwe during the crisis of the past decade to focus on the characters as actors with the capacity to innovate and respond to difficulty with ingenuity through urban informalities; strengths we can all learn from.